Is Witch Lord considered undead versus the spirit blade?

[The Admiral]

Absolutely, my comment was somewhat in jest. Half the fun is thinking things through. Though I bet he'd laugh if 30 years after he wrote it he gets a list of questions to answer from us mega- fans.

Ha yes 30 years! I've edited my post.. I don't think he"d recognise the game I now play. It is a mish mash of EU, NA, AHQ, Warhammer and a plethora of my own and other people's house rules. But I do realise that there are others who are trying to interpret the game as originally intended. A difficult task this far removed from its inception. Everyone must come up with their own interpretations. Mine is that the WL is undead and is affected by the spirit blade. Others will come to their own conclusions.

[wallydubbs]

Not that I play it completely by book (even that's up for interpretation), I've made adjustments and house rules along the way.
In this case there is a right and wrong answer that the creator of the game should know.
Even if I am wrong and he is an undead skeleton lich, I'd probably still play it my way, as it makes it more difficult for the heroes. With 4 attack dice it's possible to 1-shot the Witch Lord, and as the Zargon player that would royally piss me off. He's such an awesome bad guy.

I've playtested through the series and was rather disappointed when the likes of Sinestra and the Frozen Horror died in 3 turns.
But with the boosts I've given the Witch Lord I managed to kill the Wizard and drain the Dwarf of his mind points, sending him into shock.

[Pancho]

My preference is to give the Witch Lord's stats and abilities a boost, rather than rule that he isn't Undead in regards to the Spirit Blade. I feel that's a much better option, and does justice to one of the best HQ villains, story wise.

[wallydubbs]

What is dead may never die...

[Anderas]

Well that special rule is maybe a bit exaggerated Wallydubbs.

However he does have the spell ring right? At least he loses it after the fight. So go figure what he can do with it.

Also, Count Mohawk made some excellent suggestions over here:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3118&p=59560&hilit=The+Witch+Lord+is+pale#p59560

[Uncle_Elvis]

Well that special rule is maybe a bit exaggerated Wallydubbs.

However he does have the spell ring right? At least he loses it after the fight. So go figure what he can do with it.

Also, Count Mohawk made some excellent suggestions over here:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3118&p=59560&hilit=The+Witch+Lord+is+pale#p59560

In regards to the spell ring, if you play it by the book, it does say which spell is stored within it.

[Jalapenotrellis]

Do y'all let the players know special monster stats? It isn't in the parchment text...

[wallydubbs]

Although I find it favorable that the heroes should know the stats of the enemy they're up against, there are a few occasions when I find it better if they don't.

I did play it by the book with Ulag and Grak, but when I got to the Fire Mage nobody really asked about his stats, so after watching how well the heroes were progressing, I gave him 4 Body points instead of 3. It seemed like something they could handle.

After playtesting Frozen Horror and Mage of the Mirror I found Sinestra and Frozen Horror's body points should be boosted as well.

A lot of it should depend how well the heroes are doing on body points and health potions. You don't want to cheat them out of a win, but nor do you want to make it too easy for them. I'd say if they don't ask don't tell, but if they do estimate how many body points the boss would need to be challenging, but not too difficult to beat. Sometimes the book's suggestion is accurate other times you'll have to make it more difficult or tone it down depending on your group. In the case of the Witch Lord, you want to make him iconic, I'd suggest adding some spells from the expansion packs. Sinestra and Tormuk hardly have a use for Reanimation, so pass that Chaos spell to someone who will make good use of it.

Also, it's fine if you want the Witch Lord to make good use of the Spell Ring. I think it's been pointed out that he dan use Fear twice.

[The Admiral]

Although I find it favorable that the heroes should know the stats of the enemy they're up against, there are a few occasions when I find it better if they don't.

Yeah, I never reveal the stats of a monster the Heroes have never encountered before. Adds to the exitment, and as you went on to say, in the case of bosses it does give you some leeway to improve them a bit, although I rarely do that.

[Kurgan]

anyone who once was dead and is still moving for me is to be considered an undead.
He has mind points because he is a special undead, a better one.

Heroes revived by the Elixir of Life would be a clear exception to this... (or the resurrections of heroes in the Japanese edition of the Game System, whether by Temples or the Talisman). To further complicate it, Heroes can have their mind points reduced to zero and go into "shock" in some official quests (rather than dying as they do in others).